


Thunderstorms

by anamatics



Category: Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha | Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
Genre: Angst, F/F, Family, Fluff, storm watching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-19
Updated: 2011-04-19
Packaged: 2017-10-18 09:31:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/187466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anamatics/pseuds/anamatics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mid-Childa is far too large a planet to facilitate the atmospheric changes needed to achieve a thunderstorm - except on this one occasion, when a storm breaks late after a hot summer day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thunderstorms

Fate Harlaown had grown up in Japan, she understood the general principal of hot summer days. Japan's famed humidity and hot days were not conducive to her long hair and seeming inability to cool herself down effectively in hot weather. Still, Fate had loved it there, for every night, the thunderstorms would roll in like clockwork and she and Nanoha would go up to the roof of her apartment building and watch the churning clouds above them.

Mid Childa did not have nearly as many thunder storms as Earth, as it was far larger and subject to much quicker atmospheric changes - the slow shift from warm to cold that made Earth such a hotspot for electrical activity in the air simply could not exist in Mid's atmosphere. Fate missed seeing those storms, she missed sitting out in the rain after a hot day of work and school with Nanoha, cooling off and watching the storm.

She could not believe what she was seeing.

Fate had been working outside all day, running a long training session with Nanoha and then working on some individual training with Signum. She was sweating like a pig and wanted nothing more than to be free of these tight, wet clothes - saturated with her perspiration. This was not her day for her wishes, as the forwards had cornered her then, asking her questions about her fighting style and how she'd managed to remain so evenly matched with Signum even though it was arguable that the Balkan knight was faster than her.

She'd poured the rest of her water bottle on her head as Elio had gotten to his third question, and had debated, seriously, taking off her shirt at the seventh.

Still, she was a good role model and Elio and Caro were very much like her children. She struggled to take good care of them with a work schedule that was far better suited to someone who was either forty and divorced, or just starting out in life and single. She was neither and wanted nothing to do with becoming either of those two options; for Fate was quite accomplished with her life. She put up with the questions with the patience and practice that many parents do not acquire until their children are long out of the house all together.

Eventually, though, they left her, and Fate made her way across the section's large green towards her apartments. She wanted a shower, for the day seemed to only be getting hotter as the hours wore on.

From her pocket, Bardiche beeped shrilly, "Sir, your internal temperature is comparable to the outside temperature. It is suggested that you find some way of cooling yourself."

She smiled and nodded, "I will, Bardiche." The day was hot enough to make her blood boil and all that she could think about was filling the bathtub with cool water and relaxing with the late edition of Mid's newspaper and catching up with the events of the world that she called home.

The air conditioning hit her like a gunshot as soon as she walked into her building and she shivered as the slight sheen of sweat across her forehead suddenly cooled and prickled on her skin. She was grateful for the change of temperature, but the accompanying chill made her feel feverish and that was something that Fate was quite positive that she was not.

She hated being sick anyway, for Nanoha worried about her and Vivio spent all her time at school telling her teachers about how 'Fate-mama' was sick and her mom was stuck at home taking care of her while Vivio still had to go to 'stinkin' school.' It was adorable, but the subsequent phone call home was never worth it.

Takamachi Vivio was quite opinionated for a girl of the appearance of a seven year old.

Fate pushed open the door to her apartment with a tired sigh and wearily gave a half-hearted, "I'm home," to the apartment at large. It was an old habit that she'd picked up on Earth, and she'd never been able to break it - no matter how western a world like Mid Childa was.

"Fate-chan!" Nanoha called from the direction of their bedroom. "Guess what?"

Fate closed her eyes. Please let it be something that can wait until after my shower.

"What?"

"There's going to be a lightning storm tonight. It's been all over the news." Nanoha announced happily. She had moved to come and stand in the doorway that separated their main living area from the kitchen, and Fate could not help the smile the blossomed across her face with the news.

"Vivio's never seen one." She said quietly. "Do you think she'll want to watch?"

Nanoha nodded, smiling brightly. "Un. She knows you love them, since you tell her about the ones on earth all the time. It'll be good for her to see one." She moved forward and was about to wrap her arms around Fate when she stopped, her nose wrinkled. "You're all wet."

Fate blushed. She had taken the comment out of context, but the implication was still there. "Yes," she muttered, looking at her feet. "Signum and I sparred after your training session."

"In this heat?" Nanoha frowned. "You need to go take a shower and cool out before you pass out because you've got heat stroke."

Fate nodded. "Will you still be around when I get out?" Their schedules were so different that they rarely saw each other during the day.

Nanoha grinned, "Yup, you can come up and tell me all about your adventures sparring with Signum then."

"Thanks." Fate smiled and leaned in, kissing Nanoha's cheek.

"Ewwww, Fate, you smell."

Fate laughed.

The storm broke later than the weather reports predicted, closer to midnight than nine thirty at night, and far too late for Vivio to be staying up. Nanoha had tried to argue that just this once, Vivio should be allowed to stay up and enjoy this rare phenomenon. Fate had said no, however, taking the more authoritative role in the parenting much to Nanoha's surprise. Vivio did have school in the morning, Fate reasoned, and she rather did not want to share the moment with anyone but Nanoha when the clouds finally unleashed their clearly heavy loads. This was a special moment for the two of them, something that they'd kept between themselves for years after their friendship circle had expanded to include everyone they now held dear. Fate wanted the moment to reminisce and be at peace with Nanoha. She wanted it more than she knew how to explain it to Nanoha with words.

She spent the evening watching the sky though the kitchen window, sitting amongst the placemats that Vivio had made last year at school reading through reports and trying not to appear all that excited. A storm and she got to see it break with Nanoha. This was a rare treat.

Fate was alone in the kitchen and she closed her eyes, taking advantage on Nanoha's running to the bathroom to let her consciousness drift up into the clouds. She was an elemental mage, and they were rare enough as it was, but the skill to track her element, especially one as fickle as lightning, had always come easily to Fate.

The storm would break in half an hour. It was still moving into position, and the two layers of atmospheric pressure were just starting to create the flickers of lighting within the clouds, but nothing strong enough to break free.

They should go up to the roof soon.

Fate looked over to the blanket that Nanoha had set by the door and smiled. This meant a lot to her too, Fate could tell. They hadn't had a moment like this in so long, just the two of them. Vivio had been asleep for two hours, and if she was going to wake up again tonight, it would be much later. It was too early for nightmares.

"Nanoha?" Fate called. She could hear water running in the bathroom and soon the sound of a door closing.

"Yes?" The brunette walked in the room carrying the bathroom towels and brushing past Fate to deposit them in the nearly full washing machine. Tomorrow was supposed to be dry and hot, perfect for laundry. Fate was not too thrilled with the idea that Nanoha hung her under things out for the world to see, but they only had a clothesline on the front balcony and no dryer in the apartment.

Ah, the perils of base on-housing. At least the dry-cleaning service covered their uniforms - as Fate was absolutely awful at ironing shirts and Nanoha was not much better.

"We should go up; it's going to start soon." Fate said, flicking her wrist and closing down her monitor screens.

Nanoha nodded and grabbed the blanket and something else that Fate could not see from the pile by the door. Fate was grateful that she was willing to carry their gear up to the roof, as the very thought of carrying anything in this weather was quite lost on her. She'd just cooled off and she didn't want to risk getting all sweaty until she absolutely had to. She was being lazy, really, but she did grab the bottle of wine out of the refrigerator and find two cups that didn't look like they'd somehow been passed down from Hayate's 'mommy' stage with Vita. Just two normal glasses. They were careful to not actually have wine glasses in the apartment, because they would inevitably be broken.

"Wait for me!" Fate called, as Nanoha was walking far more briskly than Fate's own pace. They had time; there was no need to rush.

The roof was deserted, which was strange, as usually there were a few of the support staff up here at this hour, watching the night sky and smoking cigarettes that were technically not allowed in the building. Fate smiled when she saw that Nanoha had laid the blanket down on the corner of the roof furthest from the door, partly hidden by a cooling vent. Fate moved quickly over to Nanoha and grinned brightly at her as she kicked off her shoes and settled down next to the brown-haired woman. It was still to hot to be too close, but Fate still found herself with an arm around Nanoha's shoulders as they flopped backwards onto the hard concrete of the rooftop together.

"This is strange," Nanoha said a small circle of her rose-colored magic appearing above her head as she spelled the area to be shielded from the rain.

Fate added her own magic to the spell, and it turned a nice shade of orange. Fate liked to combine their magics, even if she was spelling for repulsion and protection while Nanoha was just trying to keep them dry. "What is?" she asked, as they wove the final parts of the spell together and let the magic go - the air shimmering briefly as the spell took effect and then returning to the familiar nighttime grey.

Nanoha rolled so that she was on her side, facing Fate, so close that their noses were almost touching. "We're adults now, and yet we're still like excited children, waiting for this storm to break."

Fate laughed and brushed a stray lock of hair out of her lover's eyes. "It's something that we've always kept special between the two of us. Why should that change now?"

The first rumble of thunder boomed then, the sky flashing to life as Nanoha shrieked and curled closer to Fate, her leg haphazardly thrown over Fate's and her arms tight across Fate's chest.

The storm was louder here, more violent than Fate had been expecting.

It was glorious.

They lay on their backs, watching the sky with interest as the clouds churned overhead, creating the appearance of malevolent gods enacting their hatred on the world.

Fate did not believe in such things. She had something else to believe in, someone who would never let her fall.

"Nanoha?" Fate asked after a particularly loud crash of thunder.

"Mn?"

"Will you kiss me?" Fate felt foolish asking, knowing that she could take from Nanoha what she wanted, no questions asked.

Nanoha smiled and propped herself up on one elbow. "The last time we did this," she muttered, her fingers cupping Fate's chin, moving her closer. Close enough for their breath to mingle and their lips to brush ever so slightly as Nanoha continued speaking. "You wanted to kiss me, then, didn't you?"

"Yes..." Fate hissed, the proximity, and the lightning dancing across the sky had filled her with memories of a time when she'd wanted something with no hope of ever getting it.

Nanoha kissed her deeply, a wet press of lips on lips. There was none of the innocence that Fate had fallen love with, just a woman every bit as much in love with Fate as Fate was with Nanoha.

"I love you." Fate said into the kiss.

"I know." Nanoha said, running her fingers through Fate's bangs. "I love you too."


End file.
